Kai stayed in stillness.
His ears rang with the familiar voice and nonchalance.
A breathy exhale escaped his lips as he mocked himself for not anticipating this.
Slowly, he turned around and met with a woman standing upright with a golden sword in her hand. Her impassive eyes behind the mask, along with the scar poking from her combat light armor, made her identity clear.
Matilda.
She was now proudly wearing a dirty gold armband.
Proudly announcing to the world of her betrayal.
I should've known it was going to be her.
Abigail, as Dorian predicted, is too timid to make a stand against the strong. She was afraid. And if given the chance, she would change teams in a heartbeat. But entering Team Coeus, like how Matilda did, is impossible for her.
She's not a High Angel. She's not strong.
And Team Coeus doesn't need anymore healer.
So, the only way she could enter was by making use of Matilda's mercy.
Had she talked with any other student from Team Coeus, she'd probably be killed.
But with Matilda, she has a chance.
"Last night," Kai's eyes narrowed. "It was you, wasn't it? You're the rat."
Now that he thought about last night more, the only person who could leap that high to avoid being caught by him was Matilda. She had shown how physically stronger she was—with the blood of Athena in her.
It must be her whom Abigail was trying to meet.
"Yes," Matilda nodded. "It was me. I was making sure the information I got was accurate, and your appearance confirmed it."
Kai's expression turned grim.
He knew that he ought to ditch the hideout as it was likely compromised, making the pond the new rallying point since Abigail didn't know about it. But he lost his Ox Leaves and decided to sneak here to check if there were any.
No field of Oxspires in the area made checking the hideout the only option he had.
Of course, he was careful.
He made sure the Nigh-phantom was active, but it wasn't effective.
Matilda was in the area with the intention of finding him, so the imprint didn't work on her.
"Are you angry at me for betraying the team?" She tilted her head slightly. Her curious eyes stared at Kai as if she were eager to know the answer. "That I chose to save myself instead of struggling along with a weak team?"
"No," Kai shook his head. "I pity you. Going from a High Angel and a respectable leader to Lion's bitch who could not do anything but watch his barbarity reign… That must've been hard on you."
Matilda's eyes sharpened.
Unlike the last time she saw him, there was no softness behind his eyes and demeanor.
No weakness.
He had been forged through hardships and came out a polished, sharp sword.
Kai looked around.
Three white masks emerged from the overgrowth, surrounding him from all sides.
Each one is wearing a dirty gold armband and exudes killing intent.
But his attention was seized by the figure who emerged from behind Matilda. A woman who didn't seem to want to be present. A woman who, until this morning, was a part of his team. Yet what made his eyes bulge wasn't his anger towards her.
It was because of the mask she was wearing.
A mask shaped like a lamb. One that was identical to the one his sister was forced to wear.
On the forehead, one word carved in blood, 'Bella'.
Naturally, almost chillingly, his burning gaze shifted back to Matilda.
"Lion says hello," She said, almost like she was clarifying that it wasn't her idea to do this.
Another disgusting trick that made Kai's blood boil.
Deg—!
His heart suddenly throbbed as a sharp sting stabbed him from his wounded shoulder.
In the following second, Kai's vision blurred, and he saw doubles.
"Krrgh…"
Kai clutched his shoulder and stared at Abigail in complete and utter disbelief.
Betraying him after what he did for her wasn't enough, so she also tampered with the herbs to weaken him even further. Shame must've driven her to do this, as she didn't want to see Kai ever again.
Even now, she was too ashamed to stare him in the eyes.
"Do not look at her like that. Like me, she chose to survive. Even attempting to beat Team Coeus with Lion at its head is simply impossible for you," Matilda explained. And Kai hated that she thinks she knows everything. "It was never personal."
"Never personal?" Kai stared at the mask Abigail was wearing with red eyes.
A cold wind suddenly breezed through the area more strongly.
Matilda looked around with a frown, sensing a chilling sensation creeping down her spine.
And when she focused back on Kai, she saw that darkness was shrouding his body.
Like the dark corners of the night were focusing on him.
'I never knew who his Patron God is. Even from the start, I knew that I couldn't leave him alive if I wanted to ease this knot inside my stomach. Something about him feels wrong.' Evident hard lines formed on Matilda's forehead, sensing the same chill as she did the first time she noticed Kai creeping from the dark corner to get closer to that monster in the dorm. 'Seeing how strong he had gotten...
'I can't let him go,' Matilda turned to the others. "Kill the Lesser Angel."
Three students stepped forward.
Kai's eyes stared at their gleaming weapon through the blur and readied his own.
His mind was growing numb as the oxygen inside his mask decreased.
All of them charged at the same time, attacking him from all sides with a mocking chuckle in their throats. Barbarians stripped of the modernity of society. They played with him as he blocked and parried their deadly blades.
As their laughter grew louder, Kai searched for the same fear he had felt before.
One that gripped him when he faced Wolf.
But he could no longer feel it.
Instead, he could feel a wall pressing against his back, and the scorching adrenaline pumping through his veins. Many said that someone cornered is more dangerous because their bodies put them in a trance-like state to make one final stand.
And it was true.
Kai's mind was pulled into that trance.
Everything slowed down in his eyes.
His heart pounded even harder, but his hands were chillingly steady now.
Each time he blocked an attack, the more his mind and senses narrowed into a hyper-focus.
Beyond, his eyes traced to where Matilda was standing. And the mask on her face seemed to distort, change, and turn into the face of a red demon. He must be hallucinating, but now, the Demon Man was standing where she stood.
And Bella's voice rang like an alarm that jolted his mind.
'Show them how strong you can be, brother.'
Kai's heart stilled, and his eyes sharpened with the first streak of killing intent that he let free. He was still alive because her sister paid the price of his sin, and she wanted him strong. She wanted him to be free from restraints.
Now, it was his turn to pay for what he owed her.
Clang—!
He parried two blades arcing down to his body, knocking the two barbarians backward.
Shifting to the offense, Kai dived to their bellies.
Both barbarians were startled by his sudden offense and followed their instinct to leap away.
A mistake.
Kai swung his scimitar. His stance, muscle coordination, and swing were perfect, like he had been swinging a weapon from birth and perfected the fundamentals through a billion more slashes.
Slash—!
Shrill screams blared across the night as four arms were sliced cleanly from the main bodies.
The black scimitar dripping with gore shivered in his hand as the blade carved through flesh with precision, slicing open two necks. Their bodies fell before the bloodstream inside could even register that their pathways to the brain were severed.
He pivoted on instinct and narrowly avoided a vertical slash from the third barbarian.
Like a cold-blooded killer, the scimitar naturally found its place inside his stomach.
Kai could feel the warmth of blood trickling down his hand, and heard the disturbing gargling from the barbarian's mouth pounding against his right ear. He pushed away the hands that were trying to reach him, and like a phantom, circled around.
His hands naturally found their place on the barbarian's head.
And then, he used Deep Slumber.
No scream came out of the barbarian's mouth.
Darkness claimed him from the legs like the night was devouring him.
He retaliated. Tries—at least. Twisting his body left and right. Reached. But always came up short. And with each passing second, his struggle weakened as his strength was drained by the night.
It took only a moment for him to completely lose all his strength.
And throughout all this, no matter how Kai moved to pin the barbarian down, his eyes stayed focused on Matilda.
Even from behind the masks, the surprise that both Matilda and Abigail felt as they watched Kai take down three students with ease was evident for all to see. Defeating three students as easily as this showed that his power is now nearing a High Angel.
Or perhaps he's already equal to one.
'I've heard that he could devour people, but this…?' Matilda's eyes narrowed.
She knew that Kai's mysterious Patron God allowed him to devour others, as the students who had survived encountering him had mentioned. But what surprised her the most right now was his combat prowess.
It improved drastically.
Just not too long ago, when the rite started, Kai was nothing more than an amateur.
Even if he were given a sword, he probably wouldn't be able to harm anyone.
Every move he made back then screamed untrained.
But now, that has changed immensely.
Matilda could see that his footwork had improved, while his offense was outright perfect.
No wasted movement and backed with strength and intention.
It was perfect.
Even she couldn't achieve such a perfect slashing motion with her sword.
'My Legacy Skill allowed me to be proficient in all weapons, but I don't think I can replicate his slashes,' Her brows dipped into a frown, feeling the imminent danger radiating from Kai. 'Just who is his Patron God? And isn't he supposed to only have one Divine Lock?'
On the other hand, Abigail unconsciously took a step back at the sight.
She had been living with Kai for days.
Among everyone in their class, she is probably the person who knows Kai the most.
Kai is kind. Patient. Level-headed.
But now, the eyes that were staring back were devoid of any of those traits.
She had never seen Kai look like this before. Bloodthirsty. Cold. And it scared her.
Kai let go of the last barbarian's head, allowing his body to slump to the side.
For some reason, he didn't make the finishing blow.
Instead, he drew the blood from each one of the barbarians with his fingers and then drew a symbol on his forehead, using their blood as ink. "Both of you have made your decisions, and now, I have made mine," He muttered as he stood up again. "Only the strong will survive."